Florida Rationing Medicaid Services, deny mandated coverage to save money.

Well what do you know, Florida Republicans have decide to ration health care and renege on the Medicaid promise to provide coverage.

Funny thing, in justifying his reason for denying the expansion of Medicaid, Scott Walker warned us how the federal government will someday renege on its Medicaid obligations. Projection? 

It appears Florida state Republicans beat the federal government to the punch. They've decided to ration treatment. But aren't the Republicans the ones screaming about rationing and Medicaid funding wariness?

Miami Herald: Florida has been limiting Medicaid patients to six emergency room visits a year even though federal officials consider such a cap illegal. As a result, the federal government intends to penalize the state by withholding a portion of Medicaid funding.

“We hope the state will realign their Medicaid program with federal standards to avoid this penalty,” said Emma Sandoe, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Rationing, pure and simple: The GOP has even rationalized their limits as "a cost saving measure." Rationing.

Limiting the number of ER visits is intended to be a cost-saving measure. Republican lawmakers in 2012 said it would encourage patients to rely on primary care doctors instead of hospital ERs.

Such limits on ER visits, the federal agency says, violate the Social Security Act by “arbitrarily” denying coverage of a mandatory benefit and would not be in patients’ best interest.

This is the kind of policy we'll see from Republicans once they convert to block grants for Medicaid dollars, with no strings attached, leaving the federal government powerless to help.